2017 Symposium Program and Workshop Descriptions

The 2017 Illinois Safe Schools Symposium brought together over nearly 250 youth and adults to dream and scheme about what Safe Schools work means to them. Our keynote speaker was the amazing author of George, Alex Gino, and we held a powerful Youth Activism Plenary and Legislative Advocacy Panel. Check out the program by clicking the cover page!

Workshop Session 1:

Description: This professional development workshop will unpack ways that adultism is ingrained in the legal system. From advocating for a transgender inclusion policy at the school board level to defending a student at an expulsion hearing, how do we - as legal advocates - center the youth we are advocating for, share information we hold with young folks, and maintain a trauma-informed lens? This workshop will support participants with concrete practice skills to shift power dynamics when working with youth.

Description: This workshop will outline the myriad of obstacles young people face when trying to access supportive, affirming health care. Led by two advocates who focus on connecting youth with affirming care, the workshop will then turn to a discussion of how providers can counteract adultism in access to care and support exploration of options.

Description: Led by two members of the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance Youth Committee, students will discuss how oppression affects lives of young folks, with a particular focus on adultism. Participants will dream and scheme about ways to resist the way oppression manifests itself in activism, schools, and communities.

Description: This workshop will begin with a discussion what it means to be truly youth-centered and ways in which folks can put that ideal into practice. Each facilitator will then discuss their experience of being a parent advocate alongside their child, in less well - resourced areas of the state. They will share their unique perspective around developing community and resources for LGBTQ+ youth, while listening to their child and centering their needs and vision.

Description: This workshop will be an interactive activity that explores ideas from the book “To Teach: the journey, in comics” by Bill Ayers. Facilitated by a current and former classroom teacher, this workshop will explore how teachers and school administrators can create environments and curriculum that are youth-centered. Attendees will leave having had opportunities to think, engage, reflect, and plan for how to make their classroom and school environment more youth centered.

Facilitation Style: Co-Facilitation Style + Q&A

Panelists:

Evan Pruynski, He/Him/His; National Youth Council Representative of Illinois

Workshop Session 2:

Designing with and for Youth: Improving Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare with Human-centered Design

Facilitators:

Laura Paradis, She/Her/Hers

Mary Foyder, She/Her/Hers; Senior Design Lead

Amanda Geppert, She/Her/Hers; Director, Ci3 Design Thinking Lab at the University of Chicago

Shannon Delaney, She/Her

Michael Johnson (MJ), He/Him/His; University of Chicago

Geared Towards: Health Care Providers & Youth

Description: Too often, healthcare services are designed without consideration for, or understanding of, the lived experiences and desires of young people. As a result, young people do not receive the care they might want or need. In this highly interactive workshop, participants will learn and practice approaches to engage each other in building positive sexual and reproductive healthcare experiences with and for young people. We’ll share stories, listen deeply, and incorporate what we learn into novel ideas around the systems and structures to support adolescent-centered care.

Description: This workshop will look at the way in which high school history curriculum teaches (and more often, fails to teach) students about LGBTQ+ history, and notable LGBTQ+ folks throughout history. That discussion of looking at high school history curriculum through a critical lens will be balanced with a presentation of LGBTQ+ history that is often left out of that curriculum.

Facilitation Style: Traditional Presentation Style + Q&A + Activity

Decolonizing Education

Facilitators:

Hana Center

Geared Towards: Teachers & School Administrators, Youth

Description: This workshop will uncover the myriad ways public school curriculum is constructed is heavily colonized. It will then turn to a discussion of how to counter that perspective.

Description: This workshop will be led by folks with a range of experiences working in public schools. From the perspective of a school superintendent to that of a school counselor, this workshop will provide attendees a wide array of insights on the process of drafting, passing, and implementing inclusive policies in school settings.

Description: This workshop will begin by discussing what resources currently exist in Southern & Central IL. It will then turn to a discussion of what resources folks would like to have access to, and discuss a path to seeking out or developing those resources. This workshop will end with the conduction of a youth Needs Assessment survey on behalf of the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance, the results of which will be used to guide the ISSA as the organization builds out resources into Central & Southern IL.

Facilitation Style: Moderated Panel + Audience Discussion

Madness Mapping

Facilitators:

Icarus Project

Geared Towards: YOUTH ONLY

Description: This workshop will focus on mental and emotional wellness, with a particular focus on the concept of Madness Mapping. Madness Mapping is a practice in which individuals create a type of "living will" that delineates what is helpful to that individual when they are experiencing a mental health crisis, which they then share with people they feel comfortable holding that information. That way, that individual's loved ones can be equipped with the knowledge of what that person needs to feel supported when experiencing a mental health crisis and may not be able to express it.

Description: U.S. schools overwhelmingly take a punitive approach to disciplining students. This workshop will provide examples of alternatives to "traditional" means of addressing harm in school including restorative practices that consider conflict from the perspective of opportunity for growth, community-building, and healing. This workshop will also include a discussion of advancing restorative justice practices in school through the law, with a specific focus on Senate Bill 100.

Description:The workshop facilitators for this session have a diverse range of experiences in advocating for inclusive policies in public schools. This workshop will delve into each of those areas of expertise with a discussion of the current legal landscape in schools, steps for advocacy within the school environment, and discussing Alex's personal experience with advocating for inclusive policies in his school.

Description: During this workshop, attendees will hear from facilitators who have experience in actively advocating for queer inclusive sex ed. This discussion will consider why medical accuracy, inclusivity, body positivity, and autonomy over one's body are essential components of a sexual health education. It will balance that discussion with a framework for approaching school administrators about creating an inclusive curriculum around sexual health.

Description: This workshop will focus on the Constitutional rights students are guaranteed, as it pertains to school settings. This conversation will be framed by first conducting a basic civics lesson, then delving into a more specific and nuanced conversation about how folks' Constitutional rights apply in schools.